This Thanksgiving Jeanne would have turned 51 years old. As we remember her on her birthday, we also reflect on her legacy and the many things that we are thankful for: Connie and Howard Clery’s courage to work for change after the tremendous loss of their daughter, Jeanne; those who prioritized campus safety when backing the Clery Act and its amendments; and the practitioners who commit their time to crime prevention and response. They do this not only because law requires it but also because they believe students and employees deserve to live and work on a campus free from violence.

We’re grateful that so many of you, representing the campuses that we serve, are willing to take your time to provide us with feedback to improve our programs and materials. We know survey fatigue is real in higher education, however many of you responded with honest feedback so that we can work together to make campuses safer.

Our brand new Comprehensive Jeanne Clery Act training starts in January. Valuable insights you shared that influenced our training for 2018:

• “I understand the law but when something happens I start to get confused!”

Implementing federal law can feel complicated. Participants told us they needed more time to learn the requirements and space to practice necessary skills before implementing them on campus. As a result of these comments, in our training, participants will use a Workbook with application activities they execute during the course with feedback from peers and instructors. We extended our course from 2-days to 3-days to allow ample time to learn and apply the concepts.

• “I love learning from instructors but what if someone in the class has a great idea or if I have a question specific to my campus?”

Workshops throughout the training foster information and resource sharing as well as provide additional opportunities to ask campus-specific questions.

• “I am the Clery Coordinator and no one on my campus really knows how to help me. I also do not know how to ask for help.”

Although it’s important to have knowledgeable leaders coordinating Clery Act efforts, Clery Act implementation requires collaboration across departments. Activities in the training and in the Workbook help you think critically about who should be involved in program and policy development and how to bring them to the table. Whether you attend the training alone or as a team, there is something for everyone!

• “I love being in trainings but what do I do when I return to campus?”

The training curriculum and Workbook give you practical tasks for Clery teams so that you can “make the case” for a Clery team (if needed) and create subcommittees and/or practical tasks so that team member contribution feels productive and relevant.

Thank you for your continued efforts to improve the safety of your campus. We look forward to seeing you at one of our 2018 events.